


It's Not Just A Name

by flyingorfalling



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Name Changes, Pepperony Week, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 10:10:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20151919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingorfalling/pseuds/flyingorfalling
Summary: The night before the wedding, Pepper and Tony decide on a last name.





	It's Not Just A Name

Pepper had spent all day planting seeds in what was going to be their organic garden, because gardening helped her to calm her nerves. She didn’t know why she was so anxious about tomorrow when she had been waiting years for that day to finally be there. Her dress was perfect, the man she was going to marry was healthy—a little weak still, but mostly recovered from being starved in space—and she was carrying his child. She still couldn’t believe she was pregnant, but her small baby bump was a big dose of reality for her.

She sighed, as she closed her eyes, tilting her head back to let the water run over her body, washing off the last remains of dirt on her face. _Relax_, she told herself, leaning against the cold tiles with her back. If someone had told her before that she’d be feeling this way, she would have laughed. If anyone would be losing his mind over getting married, it would be Tony, she had thought—and she had never been so wrong.

”Mind if I sit here and watch?” The sudden sound of her fiancé’s voice almost made Pepper lose her footing.

“Jesus, Tony! You want me to walk down the aisle on crutches?" she exhaled, opening her eyes to see him sitting on the small chair next to the bathroom cabinet.

He smirked and lowered his head, shaking it lightly in amusement. When he saw the stains on her clothes, which lay on the floor, he frowned. “Have you been working? I thought you had a spa date in the city?”

“I just felt like staying home,” Pepper explained, smiling, as she turned the water off and slowly stepped out of the shower. “Did you have fun with the boys?”

Tony jumped to his feet and approached her, grabbing a towel on the way over. “It was alright,” he mumbled, as he wrapped it gently around her body.

“Thank you,” she whispered, sliding her arms around his neck. “What were you guys doing exactly?” she asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

“You really wanna know?” Tony retorted and laid his hands on her waist, pulling her closer.

Pepper Potts was one of the most curious people he knew, but he loved that about her. It gave him the opportunity to tease her whenever there was something going on she didn't know about.

”Nah,” Pepper shook her head, “I'd rather wanna know what you're wearing tomorrow.”

She took his face in her hands to pull him in for a kiss, happy to feel him responding. When she was about to take his shirt off in-between kisses, Tony pulled back and laughed.

“Nice try, Potts, but I'm not gonna tell you," he stated, letting her go.

Tony turned around and went into their bedroom where he threw a bag on the bed and started packing a few things, grinning as he caught a glimpse of Pepper next door.

Puzzled, she stood there, as though she needed a second to recover from that rebuff. Then she put on some clothes—panties and one of Tony’s wife beaters that looked like an oversized tank top on her—and followed him into their bedroom.

Standing a few feet away from him, with one hip cocked and her arms akimbo, she said, “We’re not even married yet and you're leaving me already?" She tried staring at him malevolently, but it was hard to keep a straight face when Tony was looking at her with that goofy grin.

“You won't get rid of me that easy, Pep. I'm just sleeping at—“

“You really wanna spend the night alone?” she quickly cut him off. “Without me?” She let her arms fall down her sides and approached him, a smirk on her lips. “Really, babe?”

“Of course not, but you know what they say... It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding. And I’m not taking any chances. I’m sleeping under a different roof,” he explained.

He dropped everything to welcome her in his arms—an invitation she was happy to accept, feeling Tony’s strong grip locking her in his embrace.

“Well, thank God we don't believe in these things, right?" Pepper chuckled, cupping his face. “You're staying right here,” she told him, pecking his lips. “We can pretend we're just hanging out. You know, as friends.”

“Haven’t we done that long enough?" Tony said, laughing.

It had taken them ages to admit to themselves that they had fallen for one another. And it had taken them even longer to confess everything to each other and become a couple.

“You ever thought we would end up like this?” Pepper grinned. "You were such a d... ouche back then—“

“You can say dick, Pep. We both know it’s the truth.”

“And now you're gonna be my husband. Isn’t that a little crazy? I mean, the good kind of crazy obviously, but we’ve come such a long way. It’s... Do you even realize how amazing that is?” Pepper smiled at him.

She moved her hand over his stomach, lingering over his abs—even through the fabric of Tony’s shirt she could feel the long ridges that ran across his chest, souvenir scars from every battle, every operation—before settling above his slowly beating heart. She nuzzled his neck. He did likewise to her ear. Breathing in in the warm smell of his skin, she closed her eyes and sighed. She didn’t know what she would have done, had he never come back to her. To be able to touch him, feel him, and smell him still felt like a miracle to her. She never wanted to be apart from him ever again.

When Tony tilted his head and touched his lips to hers, she weaved her fingers into his hair. He pulled Pepper’s bottom lip between his teeth, and her soft moan tingled through him. He smiled. She smiled back, her eyes soaking in his dimple, drowning in every inch of slight stubble on his chin. They followed the contour along each line and plane of his beautiful face, right to his lips where they lingered, until she kissed him again.

Tony sighed into her parted lips in pure content, and whispered to her, “I wanna take your name.”

“What?” Pepper knit her eyebrows together, pulling away from him.

Tony shrugged his shoulders, or attempted to shrug them, rather, for the left shoulder alone moved. Like his smile, the shrug was twisted.

“You want to legally change your name to—“

“Anthony Potts,” he said at once.

“But Tony...”

“Contrary to what the world might think, it’s just a name, Pepper.” It was also his father’s name, and he would have no problem cutting that last connection with Howard.

She remained silent as she studied his features, each one separate, distinct. His gaze, unwavering, penetrating, simply stared back at her. She had never really expected him to want to change his name after they were married, never even thought about asking Tony whether he wanted to hyphenate it.

“You’re serious about this?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? Stark is too many letters to spell out.”

“I hate to break it to you, genius, but Stark and Potts are the same amount of letters,” she said, laughing.

“Why are we even arguing over this?” He drew his lips into a pout.

She smirked. “We’re not arguing, I just wanna know why—“

”I just love the thought of having your last name,” he declared in the sweetest tone possible. If she was a Potts, he wanted to be a Potts, too.

“And I‘d love for you to have it, Tony, but—“

“But?”

“But I’d also love to be a Stark.”

“You want...” His eyes rounded with surprise.

“Yes,” she said softly, wrapping her hand around his cheek as she smiled.

“But you said, ‘cause of the company and your charity work, and everything else you do for the world, you wanna keep being Pepper Potts. Because it’s like a brand name.”

“I know what I said,” she responded with a chuckle. “But I never said I don’t wanna be Pepper Stark, too.”

She brushed her fingers across his skin, stroking his cheek, then settled her hands at Tony’s waist, running them slowly up and down his sides. Her gaze held his, strong and sure of what she wanted—him, all of him. She had never wanted anything, or anyone, more.

Tony let his eyes shine into hers with a look that made Pepper weak in the knees before a slow, almost shy smile crept up his face. He never thought she would want this, want to take his name immediately upon marriage. He had been so sure she wanted to keep things as they were. The fact that she didn’t was unexpected, unsought, and it touched him deeply.

His voice was hoarse and unsteady when he spoke, “You really wanna be Mrs. Stark?”

“I’ve waited so long to be with you, Tony. Now I want it all... _Everything_,” she said lowly, trembling with emotion, and her luminous eyes sparkled with mirth.

Of its own volition, Tony’s hand slid down to her waist, his palm covering the small bump that Pepper’s clothes—his shirt—hid quite nicely. His brown eyes were filled with joy, tears glistening more beautifully than the diamonds of a queen’s diadem.

“_This_... is everything,” he whispered, closing his eyes to just focus on his hand feeling the beginning of life.

Pepper placed her hand atop Tony’s and entwined their fingers, smiling, as she watched him take in the firmness in her abdomen that was never there before. To see him become so emotional, even though he wasn’t looking at her, instantly made her eyes tear up.

“Our miracle,” she whispered back through tears and reached up to kiss him. The kiss was long and lingering.

“I love you, Virginia Stark,” he breathed, opening his eyes to look into hers.

“Not yet,” she replied and let a little girl-giggle erupt from her throat.

A grin ate half his face, flashing his teeth. “I’m still gonna put Potts on the mailbox,” Tony said.

“And I won't stop you,” she answered, grinning. “But I _will_ stop you if you leave me now... Tie you to the bed, if I have to.”

Tony laughed softly, and then eyed her up and down lasciviously. “You look so damn hot in that tank top, I don’t think I _can_... leave.”

She smirked and grabbed for the hem of his shirt, and started tugging it up his body. “Maybe having sex the night before the wedding brings bad luck.”

“Well, thank God we don't believe in these things, right?" he mimicked not only Pepper’s words but also the tone she had used with him earlier.

He slowly pulled the top over her head, a move Pepper gladly assisted him with, and tossed it away. Taking a moment to admire the delightful view of the soft curves of her breasts, so perfectly shaped, he licked his lips, letting her know, “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

“And you’re gonna make _me_ the luckiest woman in the world tomorrow,” she answered, as she pulled Tony’s shirt over his head and threw it to the floor. He chuckled and dropped a hot kiss on her mouth, pushing her onto the bed.

Becoming her husband was only the beginning of what would hopefully be a long and happy life with her—one chapter of many in their book of love. They were going to be a family; them and that little human that Pepper was carrying in her womb. God, he really couldn’t wait to meet their baby. He had a feeling that their child was going to be a girl. The birth certificate would say she was born a Stark, but she would forever be a true Potts in her heart, just like the woman he was finally going to marry tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> I used to think they either hyphenated their last names or she kept hers, or Tony really is a Potts, but then Endgame revealed that Morgan is a Stark<strike>—how sweet it would've been had he called her Morgan Stark-Potts tho—</strike> and now I like to imagine Pepper officially became Virginia Stark after the wedding because of the emotional value it has, but still uses Potts for business, at least until _that thing_ happens.


End file.
